Chapter 2
TO THE MARTYRS
of his den. Do not allow him the good fortune in his own kingdom of setting you against one another, but let him find you fortified by the arms of peace among yourselves, because peace among yourselves means war with him. (6)
Some, not able to find this peace in the Church, are ac customed to seek it from the martyrs in prison. For this reason, too, then, you ought to possess, cherish and preserve it among yourselves that you may perhaps be able to bestow it upon others also.8
Chapter 2 (1) Other attachments, equally burdensome to the spirit, may have accompanied you to the prison gate; so far your relatives, too, may have escorted you. From that very moment on you have been separated from the very world. How much more, then, from its spirit and its ways and doings?
Nor let this separation from the world trouble you. For, if we reflect that it is the very world that is more truly a prison, we shall realize that you have left a prison rather than entered one. (2) The world holds the greater dark8 During persecution a number of Christians had denied the faith in the face of torture. To be sure, many had done so only to save their property, life, and freedom, and at heart had wished to remain Christians. But readmission to the communion of the Church was not so easy, since the then existing penitential discipline demanded a life-long penance for apostasy. The universal respect accorded to the martyrs, however, induced some bishops to recognize letters of recommendation (libelli pads), written by confessors on the eve of martyrdom in behalf of penitent apostates, as availing to shorten the length of canonical penance. In the above passage
Tertullian refers to such a speedier restoration to the communion of the Church through the intercession of the martyrs. There is no doubt that the exaggerated honors paid to martyrdom occasionally led to abuses. However this may be, in his Montanist period Ter tullian strongly condemns these letters of martyrs recommending lapsed brethren to the bishop's consideration (cf. De pudidtia 22).
TERTULLIAN
ness, blinding men's hearts. The world puts on the heavier chains, fettering the very souls of men. The world breathes forth the fouler impurities—human lusts. (3) Finally, the world contains the larger number of criminals, namely, the entire human race. In fact, it awaits sentence not from the proconsul but from God. (4) Wherefore, O blessed, consider yourselves as having been transferred from prison to what we may call a place of safety. Darkness is there, but you are light;1 fetters are there, but you are free before God. It breathes forth a foul smell, but you are an odor of sweetness.2 There the judge is expected at every moment, but you are going to pass sentence upon the judges them selves.3 (5) There sadness may come upon the man who sighs for the pleasures of the world. The Christian, however, even when he is outside the prison, has renounced the world, and, when in prison, even prison itself. It does not matter what part of the world you are in, you who are apart from the world. (6) And if you have missed some of the enjoyments of life, remember that it is the way of business to suffer some losses in order to make larger profits.
I say nothing yet about the reward to which God invites the martyrs. Meanwhile, let us compare the life in the world with that in prison to see if the spirit does not gain more in prison than the flesh loses there. (7) In fact, owing to the solicitude of the Church and the charity of the brethren, the flesh does not miss there what it ought to have, while, in addition, the spirit obtains what is always beneficial to the faith:4 you do not look at strange gods; you do not 1 Cf. Matt. 5.14; Eph. 5.8; 1 Thess. 5.5.
2 Cf. Ezech. 20.41; Eph. 5.2
3 Cf. Wisd. 3.8; 1 Cor. 6.2.
4 In the following Tertullian enumerates those features of pagan life which, because of their idolatrous or immoral character, the Christians found especially revolting. Cf. a similar account in his Apology 35.
TO THE MARTYRS
chance upon their images; you do not, even by mere physical contact, participate in heathen holidays; you are not plagued by the foul fumes of the sacrificial banquets, not tormented by the noise of the spectacles, nor by the atrocity or frenzy or shamelessness of those taking part in the celebrations; your eyes do not fall on houses of lewdness; you are free from inducements to sin, from temptations, from unholy reminiscences, free, indeed, even from persecution.
(8) The prison now offers to the Christian what the desert once gave to the Prophets.5 Our Lord Himself quite often spent time in solitude to pray there more freely,6 to be there away from the world. In fact, it was in a secluded place that He manifested His glory to His disciples.7 Let us drop the name 'prison' and call it a place of seclusion,
(9) Though the body is confined, though the flesh is de tained, there is nothing that is not open to the spirit. In spirit wander about, in spirit take a walk, setting before yourselves not shady promenades and long porticoes but that path which leads to God. As often as you walk that path, you will not be in prison. (10) The leg does not feel the fetter when the spirit is in heaven. The spirit carries about the whole man and brings him wherever he wishes.
And where your heart is, there will your treasure be also.8
There, then, let our heart be where we would have our treasure.
5 Cf. 3 Kings 19.4.
6 Cf. Mark 1.35.
7 Cf. Matt. 17.1,2; Mark 9.1,2; Luke 9.28,29; 2 Peter 1.16,17.
8 Cf. Matt. 6. 21